A furry problem
by milou8
Summary: A young Lancelot finds himself a new friend. Takes place before the movie.


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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

People always thought Tristan was the man with the strange pets. The first had been a toad he had found on one of his scouting trips. The knights were still young, sixteen, and so the older soldiers let him keep the animal, watching amusedly as he would place the toad on a table and stare at it for hours as if this one toad held all the secrets of the universe. A few weeks later he came back, this time with a rat, only this time Arthur made him bring the animal back as rats were known to spread diseases. What had happened to the toad in the meantime no one knew. Some said it had been eaten, others said the scout had released it and others were convinced he still had it. The next had been a young hawk, the bird was wounded and Tristan cared for it until it could fly again. The other knights saw how attached he was becoming to the bird and knew their brother would have a hard time when he would have to free it. The scout would come to the tavern with the hawk perched on his arm and would slip it dried bits of meat while softly speaking to it and stroking its feathers. When the time came to release her, Tristan rode out of the fort into the plains and released the hawk watching her soar through the air. But then something unexpected happened, one evening all the knights were sitting in the tavern when the soft rustling of feathers could be heard. The next moment they watched in astonishment as the hawk Tristan had freed a few days earlier landed on the table in front of him and pecked him affectionately on the hand. The bird had never left him since and sometimes the other knights would joke Tristan was in love with the bird.

Therefore, everyone looked on curiously when Lancelot entered the tavern seemingly cradling something against his chest.

"What's that you got Pretty Boy?" came Bors' booming voice followed by raucous laughter. Lancelot paid it no heed and made his way over to Tristan. He sat down next to the scout surprising everyone even more. Lancelot and Tristan were polar opposites when it came to socializing; they were only seen together training. Tristan raised an eyebrow, the only outward sign of his surprise.

"Vanora, could I have some milk please?" Lancelot asked. The small red-head looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"No ale?" she asked.

"No, just milk."

This was most unusual behaviour for the handsome curly-haired knight. Usually he would've entered the tavern and start flirting with her, just to annoy Bors. She nodded and left to get some milk.

"Lancelot, are you feeling all right?" Percival asked, his chocolate-brown orbs filled with worry. Percival wasn't the youngest knight but he had a naivety around him still that made him look much younger and made the other knights want to protect him. Lancelot nodded absently still concentrating on what he carried in his arms.

"Maybe he's had a baby, just like Vanora." Galahad suggested his boyishness still there despite the battles he had seen.

"That's impossible Galahad." Lamorak said with a barely repressed sigh.

"Why? The storks might've left a baby in front of Lancelot's room just like they did with Vanora." The youngest knight continued drawing incredulous looks from the other knights.

"I think we'll need to have a little talk soon." Gawain murmured.

At that moment Vanora came back with a cup filled with milk. She placed it in front of Lancelot and watched as he pulled away the blanket he had used to hide what he was carrying from sight revealing a small wolf cub. Vanora gave a small scream immediately smothered by Dagonet clapping his hand over her mouth. They all looked in astonishment as Lancelot dipped his little finger in the milk and brought it down towards the wolf's mouth. The small animal began licking the digit greedily raising its front paws to clutch Lancelot's finger.

"Lance what is that?" Gawain asked.

"This Gawain, is Furface."

"But it's a wolf!"

"Congratulations Percival, you have eyes." Lancelot smirked, stroking the fur on the wolf's head.

"Where did you find him?" Tristan spoke for the first time.

"In the forest, he was lying next to his mother. She was dead."

At that moment Arthur entered the tavern, seeing all his knights gathered together around something he made his way over there. Pushing the twins Gareth and Gaheris out of his way he arrived at the centre of the group.

"Lancelot's going to be in trouble." Gaheris whispered not so silently.

"Yeah, I wonder if Arthur's going to throw the two of them out or just Lancelot's new friend." Gareth answered and the two started laughing but stopped when Kay hit them both on the head. If there was one thing all the knights, and Romans, learned within the first few days of their service, was not to mess with Kay. Arthur ignored them and turned his gaze towards Lancelot. What he saw nearly made him fall over in shock.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Furface." Lancelot shrugged as if it was completely normal to have a wolf cub in his arms. Tristan seemed to have taken interest as well as he was now beginning to stroke the wolf's head as well.

"That's a wolf Lancelot, it's dangerous." Arthur continued.

"No he isn't."

"Maybe not now but he will be."

"Not necessarily."

"Lancelot think. It's a predator, it's in his nature. What do you think will happen when he'll grow older huh? He'll start attacking people."

"You don't know that. I'm sure if I raise him well, he'll never do such a thing."

"The wolf leaves Lancelot and that's an order. I will not have you risk the lives of the people here."

Arthur knew he had made a mistake the moment Lancelot's eyes rose to meet his, they were dark with fury. Wordlessly his knight passed the wolf to Tristan and stalked to where Arthur was standing until they were so close that their noses were almost touching.

"He stays." Lancelot hissed and for a moment Arthur felt a tinge of fear. Lancelot's temper was famous and he himself had been on the receiving end of it several times. Yet never before had he seen his friend so angry.

"Lancelot think." He tried to reason but the knight would have none of it.

"Oh, I am thinking. I'm thinking of that poor defenceless little cub who's probably seen his mother die. I'm trying to give him a chance at living because I know, and you know it as well, that if I send him away he will not survive three days out there. I thought you said to help those in need, well nice example you're giving. It just reminds me of how Roman you really are even if you try to deny it."

And there it was, the endless accusation, the knowledge that even though Arthur may preach about free will and equality his knights had had no say in the matter. They were here because they had no choice and somewhere the knights blamed him for it. Blamed him for forgetting, blamed him for doing everything Rome asked thus sending them to their deaths and blamed him for defending Rome and its' ideals.

"Me being Roman or not has nothing to do with this." Arthur said. Lancelot snorted but Arthur continued as if he hadn't heard "The fort is no place for a wolf Lancelot, you know that. You have to let it go." Without waiting for an answer Arthur turned on his heel and strode back to his room leaving a fuming Lancelot behind. The knight turned quickly and snatched the wolf from Tristan's arms only pausing to take the milk and left for his room as well, leaving a stunned group of knights behind. The dark-haired knight stomped through the hallways towards his room. Once there, he placed Furface on his bed and the milk on a side table. Sighing he sat down next to Furface, smiling as the little cub played with the furs on his bed. He had grown attached to the little animal and didn't want to abandon him. Pulling of his boots he lay down on his bed and draped the furs around him.

"Come on Furface." He said picking up the struggling little animal and laying it down next to him covering him up with furs as well. After a while Furface snuggled closer into his embrace and Lancelot could feel his breathing evening out. Giving a small smile of contentment the knight closed his eyes and revelled in the warmth emanating off the little creature.

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Two days later found him and Arthur riding out into the forest, both with angry looks on their faces. In the end Arthur had managed to convince his knight to abandon the wolf. It pained him to do so as he, like the rest of the knights, had seen the love growing between Lancelot and his furry little friend. They stopped in a clearing and dismounted. Lancelot was holding Furface tightly against his chest, unshed tears in his eyes. Slowly, he put the wolf down who immediately began to jump around excitedly not noticing Lancelot's sombre mood. The knight caught Furface and held him tightly in his arms before placing him back on the ground.

"Goodbye Furface." He whispered with a broken voice then swiftly got to his feet and walked back to his horse. This seemed to get Furface's attention as he hopped next to the knight questioningly. When he noticed Lancelot was mounting his horse and seemed to have no intention of taking him along he began to whine pitifully.

As the two knights rode away they could still hear Furface's whines. When Arthur looked towards Lancelot he was shocked to see the knight was crying, something that rarely happened. As he heard the wolf calling out for Lancelot he was surprised to feel his chest tighten. Perhaps he had been too harsh, however, the moment that thought entered his head he pushed it away, it was too dangerous to have a wolf in the fort.

When they arrived back at the fort Lancelot had stopped crying but his sadness was still clearly visible. Arthur noticed Lancelot was doing a long time over unsaddling his horse but saw that as a result from his grief.

"You go ahead Arthur, don't wait for me." Lancelot said in such an empty voice that it scared Arthur. However, he did as he was told figuring Lancelot needed to be alone for a moment. However, the moment Lancelot was sure Arthur had gone he re-saddled his horse and urged his stallion into a gallop trying to get back to the clearing as fast as he could. Luckily, the clearing wasn't too far, Lancelot only hoped that Furface would still be there. The moment he arrived in the clearing he felt his heart sink when he couldn't find his little friend. A small noise coming from the bushes caught his attention. Carefully, he approached.

"Furface?" he whispered and pushed away some leaves to find Furface curled in a tight little ball, two yellow eyes peeking out between his paws. At the sight of Lancelot he jumped up barking happily and threw himself at the knight. Lancelot fell down into the grass, laughing at Furface's antics.

"Come on little one" he said mounting his horse "let's go home." The moment he entered the fort he hid Furface into the folds of his cloak. Dismounting, he passed his stallion's reins to a stable boy and ran up to his room where he placed Furface on the bed.

"I might've known." Came a gruff voice, startling him.

"Tristan!" he gasped.

"Arthur's not going to be happy." The scout said stepping out of the shadows.

"I don't care." Lancelot said perhaps a bit too forcefully. "Tristan…" he hesitated "will you help me?" A rare grin appeared on the scout's face giving him his answer.

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A few months later Fureface had grown quite a bit and was becoming more difficult to hide. All the knights knew of his presence of course and all had taken a liking to him. Yet Arthur could never know or he would send him away. Fureface had become a gentle animal and loved to play with the children living in the fort, they would play hide and seek in the stables nearly every day.

Arthur was on his way to Lancelot's room, the knight was training with Tristan at the moment but he had borrowed one of Arthur's tunics a few days ago and he wanted it back. As he entered the room, something threw him on the ground and he came face to face with big yellow eyes and a snout sniffing him from head to toe. The Roman didn't dare to do anything out of fear of provoking the beast. After a while of more sniffing the animal, seemingly satisfied, gave him a few long licks on the face just as footsteps could be heard approaching the room. A gasp and then the animal, which Arthur now recognised as being a wolf, was dragged off him.

"Bad Furface!" he heard Lancelot say and saw the wolf lower it's head and whine softly. This made Lancelot sigh and he gave the wolf a big hug, whispering silently to him, before turning his attention towards his commander who was still lying on the floor.

"Uhm, I'm sorry about that." Lancelot began uneasily.

"Wait a minute." Arthur said, understanding dawning on him "Furface, that was the name you gave to that wolf cub you found a few months ago. Please Lancelot, don't tell me you brought it back."

"Well, uhm."

"Lancelot!" Arthur exclaimed dropping his head in his hands while the wolf looked on curiously.

"Look, Furface won't hurt anyone. Ask the others!"

"Am I the only one who doesn't know?"

"Well no, I mean obviously we didn't tell the Romans."

Furface was getting more and more intrigued by this man he had never seen before. He approached him once again and decided he seemed nice, laying down on the floor he placed his head in the man's lap, silently asking to be petted. Arthur, startled at first complied hesitatingly.

"So, can I keep him?" Lancelot asked but couldn't quite keep the grin off his face. Arthur had to resist the urge to hit the other man.

"Well, obviously. It doesn't seem I have much of a choice have I?" At Lancelot's smile Arthur couldn't help but smile too, still petting the wolf in his lap who had his eyes closed, clearly enjoying the moment.

The End.

**I just want to clarify some things. This takes place when the knights are about two or three years into their service, so they haven't seen many battles yet. I have decided to make all the knights sixteen, except for Bors and Dagonet who would be eighteen and Galahad who would be fourteen (which is why he is still so naïve). I believe Arthur would be about the same age as Bors and Dagonet, maybe a bit younger, but definitely older than Lancelot.**

**Thanks for reading and please review**!


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